Broken Doll
by DarkTaoAngel
Summary: Satoshi's had trouble coming to grips with reality after Shigeru's death, but things get even worse when the afterlife and Team Rocket come into play. Names in Japanese, has ShiShi [Palletshipping]
1. Chapter 1

**Broken Doll – chapter 1**

**By: DarkTaoAngel**

**Rated: T for shounen-ai and violence**

**Genres: Drama, Romance, Tragedy, Mystery**

**Dedicated to: All the Palletshippers out there who love this stuff**

The setting sun cast a pale glow against the fog that was settling in on the city, the newly fallen rain creating a musty smell that fit perfectly with the thick scenery. Satoshi sniffled, fighting back the urge to let fall his held-back tears, but a few of them had already escaped his partially closed eyelids. The hand that he was clutching so tightly in his own was already slightly wet with the saline substance, its owner not even moving as another tear fell onto his palm. His face was a ghostly pale, his eyes closed peacefully, but his breathing was anything but serene. With each quivering, shaky breath he gasped out of his tired lungs he grew a little bit weaker, the rough, painful sounds coming from his throat sending more salty tears from Satoshi's bloodshot eyes. Shigeru couldn't help it; he'd been out of consciousness for days.

"'Geru…" Satoshi could feel how cold his hand was, and see how pale his face was becoming, but he still didn't want to have to tell himself that he was in fact dying. It was still a difficult thing to believe. After all, Shigeru was the strongest person he knew, and seeing him in such a condition terrified him. What would he have if Shigeru died? Who would be there for him then?

Satoshi's eyes swept over Shigeru's sleeping form, his beaten body wrapped gently in smooth, white hospital sheets. Satoshi presumed that underneath them was a heavily bandaged 16-year-old, but he didn't dare look. He didn't think that he could deal with the pain of seeing blood-soaked cloth wrapped around the person he loved so much.

In truth, Satoshi didn't dare admit to anyone that he and Shigeru had been dating for months now. Not that their reactions would have made the pair break up, but he knew that it would be an awkward conversation to say the least.

Satoshi snuck a glance at the heart monitor hooked up in the corner of the room, beeping slowly in tune with Shigeru's heart. It was getting steadily slower with each passing minute, and Satoshi feared for the time when it would eventually cease to beat out the rhythm. He tried to pretend that nothing had happened, that Shigeru was still perfectly alright, but he couldn't. How could something this horrible happen so quickly?

_(Flashback)_

It was a cold night; the freezing wind blew harshly, sending shivers down Satoshi's spine. He pulled his trademark hat down a little more, shielding his eyes, and hugged his thin, blue jacket tightly against himself, shoving his right hand roughly back into his pocket at the same time. Shigeru had invited him out bowling, though Satoshi had absolutely no idea where the place he was supposed to meet him was. He'd taken to wondering aimlessly for the past ten minutes, and still hadn't seen any sign of Shigeru.

A speck of rain hit Satoshi's cheek, another thing to go wrong on this unbearably cold day. It took a few moments in which at least a dozen more small water droplets fell from the sky before there were millions, darkening the ground and soaking Satoshi's clothing all through. He sneered and thought for a minute about turning around and going home, when an electrifying sound penetrated the silence.

It hit like lightning bolts, a scream so terrifying that it sounded like death in itself. It filled the air, resounding off of every wall of every building, echoing through the blinding rain. It choked back for a second, becoming nearly silent again, and then it stopped altogether.

Satoshi thought that his heart might have ceased beating in that small bit of time. He knew exactly who that scream had come from, that voice he could easily tell, even with rain splashing against his face, making it extremely difficult for him to hear anything. It was Shigeru.

Satoshi ran as fast as he could, his shoes slippery with the splashing puddles of water underfoot. He turned down numerous alleyways, trying to recall in his mind what direction he had heard that yell coming from. _Shigeru, please be alright. _He only prayed that he wasn't too late.

And then he spotted it. Blood. It was seeping slowly into vision right outside of a darkened alley, its rich red color streaming away down the street with the rain.

"Shigeru!" Satoshi screamed, nearly tripping as he ran, being sprayed with water he managed to kick up in his hurry. He reached Shigeru quickly, allowing himself to fall next to his body, not caring about the blood that would certainly destroy his new jeans. "Shigeru, are you okay?" Of course he wasn't, anyone could see that.

Satoshi pulled Shigeru up onto his lap, looking for the source of all the bleeding, which he found rather quickly. A knife, laying on the ground right where Shigeru had been, was rusted and covered in blood… Shigeru's blood. Satoshi spotted a rather large rip in the front of Shigeru's shirt, covering only slightly a stab wound.

Satoshi could feel himself crying, a steady stream of tears mingling with the heavy rainfall as he fought blindly to see past the water in his eyes. He couldn't. He had barely realized up until that point how cold Shigeru was, not even wearing a jacket. Satoshi removed his own, placing it on top of the pale boy he was cradling lifelessly in his arms, and used it at the same time to stop the bleeding from getting any worse.

Shigeru's eyes were clamped tightly together from the pain, his bottom lip coated with crimson splashes from the blood he'd coughed up. The wound on his chest was more than an inch thick, the blood and water mixture causing an unpleasant chill to come over Shigeru, his whole body shivering against Satoshi, his clothing sticking to his skin and his auburn hair hanging limply over his closed eyelids.

Satoshi pressed his jacket against Shigeru's wound harder, careful not to hurt him more than he already was, and noticed a slight bump on his chest, where his ribs were. It didn't occur to him at first, but after running his right hand smoothly over the bump, he could feel the bone of one of Shigeru's ribs, clearly broken out of place. Who had done this to him? Who could have hated him so much?

Shigeru groaned at feeling his rib being touched, his mouth barely opening as a painful whimper escaped his lips. Satoshi quickly drew his hand away, muttering countless apologies to the beaten boy, trying to think of any way that he could help him.

Satoshi knew that he had to go get help from the ambulance or something, but he didn't want to leave Shigeru all alone. What if whoever had done this to him returned to finish the job? It obviously hadn't been an accident. Who could accidentally stab someone _and_ break one of their ribs, and _then_ proceed to pull out the knife and walk away casually as though nothing had happened?

The answer to Satoshi's problem presented itself almost right away in the form of a white ambulance, followed by two backup fire trucks, all of which had lights blazing on them which made them stand out visibly, even against the lashing rain. One of people who lived near where Shigeru had been hurt had probably called them out of worry because of the painful scream, and Satoshi was glad that they had.

The three automobiles turned the corner right beside the alleyway, the ambulance predominately first in the line, followed by the larger of the two bright red fire trucks. They stopped just outside the thin gap between the two apartment buildings. Two men stepped out of the ambulance, carrying a white cloth stretcher and pulling Shigeru from Satoshi's unyielding grasp to load him into the back of their towering, white car, leaving Satoshi shivering and alone in the alley, still sobbing out the first of his tears as he clutched his jacket, soaked with splashes of Shigeru's blood, and watched them leave.

_(End flashback)_

Satoshi's grip tightened on Shigeru's nearly lifeless hand as he recalled the event. All that blood, seeing Shigeru's face contorted in pain as he fought to breathe, his body shaking as the freezing rain washed buckets of blood from his clothing, flowing with the water down the alley where it collected in a puddle at the side of street, almost _mocking_ Satoshi for not getting there sooner. He might have been able to save Shigeru if he had.

Satoshi turned his glare back to the heart monitor, as though daring it to make some change in its tempo, hopefully for the better. He wished more than anything that the roles could be switched; that he could be the one in the hospital bed, on the verge of death, with Shigeru beside him, waiting out his last breath, but at least he would be alive. Satoshi would rather die himself than watch Shigeru slowly die before his very eyes.

_(Page breaker)_

Satoshi had left the hospital not long after, tears spilling from his eyes as he fought to keep his breath straight. He had known for days the sort of condition that Shigeru had been in, but nothing could have prepared him to actually face that horrible reality.

The heart monitor had slowed like crazy, its beating steadying to an even line. Satoshi had run out of the room, not even bothering to talk to anyone else, when it had stopped beeping; when Shigeru had stopped breathing. Tears ran down his face as he tried to find some escape from reality. This was all just too awful.

He was back at his house now, trying to focus his mind on something other than Shigeru's death. It wasn't his house really, he had shared it with Professor Ookiddo and Shigeru. Shigeru was really the only reason that he'd come to live there; after the Pokemon league had ended, and he had no place to stay, he'd been warmly accepted into their home. They had moved away from Pallet, and Satoshi had reasons as to why he had no desire to go back home. He hoped that he was at least still welcome there, even if Shigeru wasn't alive.

Rain pelted the windows, running down their glass and to the ground. Satoshi wished his tears were like that, like the rain. They could stop and go and never hurt when they did come.

Lightning and thunder filled the skies, the dreary weather mingling with Satoshi's sadness. The professor, Shigeru's grandfather, wasn't home yet. He rarely ever was, always off on another adventure. Satoshi didn't mind it when he was gone, in fact, he loved the alone time with Shigeru. But being completely alone was a different story. This was a bitter sort of loneliness.

Satoshi thought for a moment that he heard something, footsteps of some kind, but after calling Professor Ookiddo's name multiple times, he shook it off as a feeling of shock or that he was merely hearing the thunder resounding off of something outside.

Satoshi resolved that he'd have to get used to living alone, which also meant admitting to himself that Shigeru would never come back. There would be no more hugs, no more quite nights alone when the two would settle on watching a movie, merely being in each others' presence was satisfying enough, but that would never happen again. Satoshi knew that he'd have to force himself to move on with life, even if it meant leaving Shigeru's life behind, which would be the most difficult thing Satoshi knew he would ever do. And it wasn't as though Satoshi simply enjoyed Shigeru's company, but he really _loved_ him.

The sound came again, along with the eerie feeling of being watched. Satoshi could have sworn he saw something out of the corner of his eye, but he dismissed it as his unfamiliarity with being this alone. He shrugged off the feeling and returned to thinking of something to occupy his mind long enough to keep it off of Shigeru's death for a while.

Satoshi rubbed his bloodshot eyes as he slunk back into the couch, watching the blinking television screen with a feigned, distant interest. He wasn't even really aware of what was on that channel, but at least it was something. But try as he might to focus his tired eyes on the multi-colored screen, Satoshi found his mind once again turning back the pages of his memories of Shigeru, unwillingly searching for those choice moments that would tear his heart out thinking of them. When he had first met Shigeru, or when they had first kissed; it was those times, the happiest ones, that hurt Satoshi most knowing that they would never happen again.

The rain was coming down thicker now, running down the windows like a flood against a dam, rushing against it in an attempt to break the fine glass preventing its entrance. The gentle rolling of thunder and rain and the occasional strike of powerful and colorful lightning illuminated the skies and filled the air with sounds much like those from a snare drum, beating at everything in its path. The air outside, had it been visible, was a murky grey, filled with large, dark clouds that covered the atmosphere, adding a dismal effect to the already blackened night air.

Satoshi sniffled, burying his face in a pillow beside him as the tears poured from his eyes, much like the rain lashing down from the heavens, unrelentless and uncontrollable. How could he have known that Shigeru's death would have affected him this profoundly? He had often been told that he was too young to fall in love, that him caring for Shigeru this much was only part of them being friends for so long. But Satoshi knew better, even though he was only sixteen. Shigeru was the only person he'd ever loved this much.

Satoshi nearly jumped out of his skin when he heard the door swing open, the sound of rushing water and sharp thunder hitting his ears harshly. He could blindly make out a figure in the doorway, but in the pitch black night, with the lights all off not to mention, it was difficult to see anything more than a shadow. Satoshi fought past the impenetrable darkness to see who it was, but he could see no one.

"Professor Ookiddo? Is it you?" Satoshi choked out past his sobs, his voice cracking from the little speaking he'd been doing for the past two days mixed with the fear that began settling in once he realized that the professor wasn't answering him back, "Hello? Who's there?" But there was still no answer.

Satoshi was beginning to get worried; Professor Ookiddo never ignored Satoshi, and he should have known how awful Satoshi would be feeling anyway after Shigeru's death. No, this couldn't be the professor.

Satoshi sunk back into the corner of the room, abandoning the couch entirely so as to put a fair bit of distance between himself and whoever this intruder was. Fear clouded his mind as he recalled an event from his childhood in which a burglar had actually made it into his home, and his whole family was there. His mother and himself had both been badly injured, him with a broken leg and her with only a fracture. His father had been killed.

_(Flashback)_

Satoshi's large eyes widened as he heard his mother's shouts of protest. He slunk himself back into a corner and watched in fear as the man brought the knife above his head, slamming it down painfully against his mother's arm. Tears brimmed in Satoshi's eyes as the intruder brought the bloodstained knife up once again, slicing through her already torn, bleeding flesh. A cry of pain resounded as his father fought to protect then both, only to have the knife taken to his own body.

Satoshi's whimpers were heard by the masked man, who lumbered drunkenly over to the quivering, eight year old boy. He hid his face with his legs, curled up against his body, his long, jet-black hair whipping across his face, soaking up the tears that his sleeves had failed to.

"Well, what have we here?" The man smiled through his ski mask, his yellowing teeth and gruesome smirk showing plainly, even in the darkness of the night.

Satoshi cowered, sinking back farther into the corner of the room. The man noticed this and brought out his knife again. Satoshi stopped moving.

The burglar chuckled to himself as he noticed the terrified look plastered all over Satoshi's face. He kicked the small boy's arm away from his huddled form, stomping on it until he was satisfied that it was broken. Satoshi screamed as tears rolled down his face, clutching his bent arm to his chest protectively and rocking back and forth as he tried to stop the pain and bleeding.

Satoshi's mother, Hanako, fought past the pain in her bloodied arm and attempted to stand, punching the masked man with all the might she could muster. The man turned his attention away from Satoshi and onto her instead, delivering a quick blow to her forehead with the knife, a steady stream of blood flowing from the large gash that had appeared.

The intruder turned his full attention to the sounds of sirens from outside, making an attempt to escape before he got caught. Satoshi's father stumbled forward, grabbing the man by the arm to retrain him long enough for the law enforcement vehicles to arrive. But by the time they did the man had already escaped, leaving only a bullet hole in the skull of Satoshi's father as proof that he had ever been there.

_(End flashback)_

The figure was moving closer to Satoshi now, the flashes of lightning occasionally illuminating parts of his body, but not enough to tell who he was. Satoshi strained his eyes in an attempt to recognize anything about the intruder, while still watching to make sure that he was at least a fair distance away from any lethal attack.

It was then that a perfect bolt of lightning was cast, striking against the rich darkness and resounding off of the still lashing rain. The light coming from it was pale and distant, but it was enough, as the shadow of the figure momentarily disappeared, the silhouette of a boy around Satoshi's age replacing it. And if that wasn't enough to shock Satoshi, then the light as it struck against the face of the boy would be.

_How can it be? Shigeru?_

**Author's notes: Okay, DarkTaoAngel needs to do some explaining. First of all, I'm using Japanese names, so Satoshi is Ash, Shigeru is Gary, Hanako is Ash's mom, and so on. I'll keep up updated on future names as they come up. And yes, this is my first Pokemon fanfiction, but certainly not my first ever. I'm a big-time writer, but I only like to _think_ that I'm good. And to spare you from future embarrassment, this is a shounen-ai fanfiction, and it has tons of ShiShi moments, so I suggest you look them up before proceeding. Yes, this is a short chapter, but I finished it, didn't I? So that should be enough for you. And this time, I do have a precise plot, though the ending is a bit rocky, but expect some regular updates here. And check out some of my other fanfictions when you get the chance!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Shi-shigeru?" Satoshi stammered as he strained his dark chocolate-colored eyes to better see the boy before him. Even through the darkness of the night, there was still no mistaking him. It was Shigeru.

His deep, auburn hair was tangled and messy, and he was still wearing the dark amethyst shirt that he had been on _that_ day. Satoshi even noticed the rip in the front of his shirt, a crimson stain of blood streaked across it. Hadn't the hospital nurses changed his clothes when he had arrived?

"Shigeru… I-I thought," Satoshi stuttered out, a bit unnerved that Shigeru had yet to answer him, "I thought you were…" but he couldn't bring himself to finish that sentence, knowing fully well that he had _seen_ Shigeru die before his eyes, yet there he was, walking towards him as though he hadn't even been hurt. But hadn't Satoshi been there when he had gasped out his last breath?

Satoshi noted the look in Shigeru's eyes when he was close enough to him that he could plainly see him, even in the midnight darkness. His rich, green eyes shown brilliantly against his still pale skin, sparkling with unshed tears as he stared into Satoshi's own eyes, sadness shining in his emerald orbs.

Satoshi saw how close Shigeru was to him now, his lips brushing against his slightly, sending a cold, tingling sensation running down his spine, but nothing more. Satoshi lifted his hand to Shigeru's cheek, brushing his knuckles against the cold flesh, only to find that his hand was touching… nothing. His fingers merely went right through the older boy's skin.

_So, Shigeru really is… But how can that be? If he isn't… alive… then how is it that he can be here right now? _Satoshi mused to himself, watching Shigeru's every movement for an answer.

Shigeru looked down at Satoshi wordlessly, eyeing the curious look etched across his features. Shigeru willed himself to say something, but the words simply refused to come out. He knew what was wrong, but speaking it was the problem. He brought his own hand up to Satoshi's, but found that it, too, went right through.

"Shigeru, w-what happened?" Satoshi hadn't noticed until that moment exactly how cold the room was, and he shivered slightly as Shigeru clasped hands with him as best he could given his current state. Satoshi saw how hesitant Shigeru was to give him an answer. "Can you tell me?" Shigeru stepped back slightly and shook his head, facing Satoshi with tears brimming in his eyes, giving them a glazed look. Satoshi wondered for a moment how an apparition could cry, but shook the thought and its unimportantness away for the time being.

Satoshi knew that Shigeru couldn't speak, but still wondered why. Why was Shigeru even there with him? Couldn't he have moved on after he died? Satoshi felt his own eyes watering as he saw how sad the taller boy looked, and how awful he knew it must be not to touch, or feel, or even speak.

"Shigeru…" Satoshi whispered, nervously eyeing the other boy's stab wound with distaste and spite, seeing the horrible blood stains that would remain with Shigeru forever, merely because that had been how he had looked when he had died.

Shigeru wordlessly mouthed something to Satoshi, clutching his throat as he fought to speak. _I can't_… he thought to himself, _but why can't I? Sato… please help me…_

_(Page breaker)_

"Does it hurt?" Satoshi asked, gently touching his palm to Shigeru's wound so that his hand barely rested against his semi-transparent skin. He knew how silly that statement sounded, asking someone who was dead if they could feel anything, but he couldn't stand the silence, and in truth, he really had no idea what it was like after someone died. He'd never had anything like this happen to him before, after all.

Shigeru shook his head slowly, depression seeping through his aura as he listened to Satoshi speaking of his death. It was enough to have to go through it, but to relive the horrible truth of it was almost worse, mostly because Satoshi was there with him, and knowing that he could no longer kiss him, touch him, even _speak _to him was a much more terrible fate then to never see him again. Shigeru could see the hurt in Satoshi's eyes as he told him everything, even though there wasn't much to tell from the time Shigeru had died until that moment in time. Shigeru could see how Satoshi's eyes tended to flick back to his blood-stained shirt and, if Shigeru moved a certain way, his stab wound beneath it.

They were sitting in the middle of the living room, the morning sun glistening through the partially closed curtains, rain sprinkling down silently in tiny droplets against the window pane, chilling the air as wind blew through the gap in the window. The lights were still off, but the light entering from the window provided enough to illuminate the entire house had the curtains not been drawn throughout most of the rooms. Satoshi was sitting opposite Shigeru on the floor, legs crossed, with his hat tipped at an odd angle over his messy hair. He was wearing only jeans and his black tee-shirt; his jacket still soaked with blood and water was unwearable, though he probably would have chosen not to put it on even if he could have. It reminded him too much of things that he'd tried so hard to forget.

Shigeru turned his yin-yang necklace distractedly in his hands, pulling at the frayed ends of the string that bound the pendant around his neck. He had misplaced feelings about the whole thing; he deeply loved Satoshi, but being there with him was the last place that he wanted to be at that moment. An uncomfortable silence hung in the air, being broken only every few minutes by an attempt on Satoshi's part to begin a conversation, which was ended almost right away by the lack of enthusiasm and voice from Shigeru. He had been rather gloomy lately, which was understandable, but the mood was brought down by his practically _contagious _depression, and it seemed as though Satoshi had been getting a little less cheerful as of late as well.

Satoshi coughed into his hand, trying to suppress another coughing fit and barely being able to. He'd been out in the rain for too long, and he knew that was the cause of his illness. In fact, Shigeru would have been sick as well if he hadn't… _No, _Satoshi told himself for what felt like the millionth time that day, another cough coming to his throat, but he managed to hold it back, _stop thinking about that. It's hard enough knowing that it was my fault that he… was killed… without reminding myself more. _Satoshi felt a pang of guilt in his heart, remembering that if he had gotten there sooner… Shigeru would probably be alive. _Or we'd both be dead. _He reminded himself, knowing that it was probably true. If Shigeru could be killed so easily, then the person who had done it must have been very powerful. _But then again, maybe I could have saved him. Besides, I would much rather have died with him than watch him suffer this alone._

Satoshi yawned silently, leaning back and pulling a pillow from the nearest chair, resting his head on it and staring up at the ceiling distractedly. He closed his eyes briefly, willing himself to forget all that had happened in the past few days and convince himself that when he opened them again everything would be back to normal.

_(Page breaker)_

Shigeru stared at the sleeping form of Satoshi, a childish grin making itself apparent on his face. Satoshi had gotten a blanket from the closet upstairs the night before and had somehow managed to tangle it around himself, with one leg completely bare. His hair was strewn messily around his face, covering one eye and sticking to the side of his neck. He was hugging his pillow protectively and was grumbling slightly in his slumber.

_Sato, wake up! _Shigeru thought, knowing he couldn't say it, but still fully aware that it was well past noon. He had attempted once to shake the raven-haired boy awake, only to be painfully reminded that he couldn't touch anything. He sighed mentally; Shigeru hadn't been able to get any sleep that night, constantly worried about Satoshi and how he had been dealing with his death.

"Shigeru?" Satoshi spoke, a yawn quickly following, "What time is it?" he asked, still half asleep. Shigeru rolled his eyes and pointed to a clock in the next room over. Satoshi groaned and fell back onto his pillow, trying at the same time to kick off his blanket only to find that it was securely wrapped around his ankle.

"Pika pi," Pikachuu said, pulling at the blanket with its teeth. Once it was untangled, the small mouse Pokemon jumped on Satoshi, settling itself on its master's shoulder. Shigeru feigned the best smile he could at the antics of the two friends, trying his best to put on a happy face for Satoshi.

Satoshi got up and pulled a spare jacket from the closet - a denim one with a large poke-ball patch on the back - putting it on and pulling an umbrella from a hook near the door. Shigeru gave him a confused look, as if asking what in the world he was doing.

"You have almost no food here and I'm starving, so _we're_ going shopping," he said, noting the look Shigeru was giving him. Pikachuu shifted on Satoshi's back, and the young trainer pulled his now dry trademark hat on his head to cover up his messy hair, opening the door and nodding for Shigeru to follow him. Shigeru shook his head slowly, staying where he was, "Of course, if you don't want to go out in public, I understand." he said, and Shigeru nodded solemnly. Satoshi waved at Shigeru as he disappeared through the door, taking one last look at the older boy, who looked horribly sad, before turning and closing the door behind him.

He had to assure himself multiple times that Shigeru would be perfectly alright, albeit a little lonely, on his own to stop himself from turning around right then and there and spending the rest of the day inside instead. Satoshi loved the older boy more than he'd loved anyone except for his parents, and he wanted nothing more than to keep him safe and happy, even if it cost him his own health or joy. The hurt look on Shigeru's face had reminded him that his boyfriend was dead, and although it terribly pained Satoshi to assume the carefree look he always had around everyone, he knew that it would only hurt Shigeru more to know that Satoshi was sad because of his death, because he knew that the auburn-haired boy would automatically take the blame, even when it wasn't his fault.

Satoshi shivered as the lashing rain pelted his skin, soaking his clothing right through almost immediately. He opened his umbrella quickly, the rain coming down in thick drops and sliding off of its smooth, black surface.

"Chuu!" Pikachuu said, shaking to rid itself of the extra water, but transferring most of it to Satoshi's jacket instead. Satoshi smiled, tousling the electric rodent's fur, and pulled the umbrella closer, shielding his Pokemon as well as himself from the rain. He shook off the bad feeling he had been getting; Shigeru was fine, he was sure of it. Shigeru was going to be just fine.

Satoshi trudged through the rain, barely able to see his own hand in front of his face after a few moments. He was terribly cold, but he wanted to spend as much time away from home as he could, because he really didn't want to think about what he was going to do about Shigeru, and the only way he could do that was to avoid the subject for as long as he could. Pikachuu was sleeping comfortably on its master's shoulders, squeaking occasionally in its own language as it slept. Satoshi sighed, using his free hand to wipe the water from his face as he looked ahead as well as he could. From his line of vision he could only slightly make out that he was in a park, though he couldn't see far enough to tell where he was other than that.

Satoshi turned abruptly as he heard a groan from just beyond his sight, looking for the source of the sound, which he eventually was able to find. There was a girl who looked to be an adult, though barely, sitting on one of the park benches and holding her arms weakly above her head to block as much rain as she could manage. He was visibly shaking, wearing soaking wet clothing. Her nearly sleeveless shirt looked tattered, as though she had been living outside for a long time, but it was her hair that caught Satoshi's eyes first. Though much shorter than he had remembered, Satoshi could easily tell who the girl was by the deep red color of her slightly curved hair.

"Musashi?" Satoshi questioned, causing the girl to move her hands from above her head and turn her attention to the teen. The former Team Rocket member nodded, looking skeptically, almost fearfully, at Satoshi, who was too busy wondering why she was in the park to begin with to notice, "Why are you here? Where are Kojiro and Nyarth?"

"Well…" she began, slightly hesitant, "I'm not… a part of Team Rocket anymore. Kojiro and Nyarth… don't want me with them…."

Her voice was shaking, possibly from the cold, and Satoshi could hear the sadness in her words. He could tell right away that she was hurt by their leaving, and he knew better than to question why. Saying it would cause her more pain than simply knowing that whatever had happened was true. Satoshi instead gestured for Musashi to share the umbrella with him, and she smiled and took it without complaint.

"You can stay with me, at least until you can get back on your feet again," he said, beginning the walk back to the Ookiddo's with the last person he'd ever thought he would be helping. He knew by the way she was dressed that she wasn't a part of Team Rocket, nor a villain at all, anymore, and he would have helped her out even if she was. That was just something that Satoshi had always been good at.

_(Page breaker)_

Shigeru stared out the window, straining to see past the rain. He was worried about Satoshi, all alone in such horrible weather, but he knew that even though he wasn't alive, he still wasn't impervious, and if he himself got lost, Satoshi would only worry about him once he finally got home. But that still didn't stop the weight in Shigeru's heart from increasing as he solemnly waited for the one person he truly loved to return home safely.

Shigeru knew of Satoshi's kind heart, and how he had probably stopped more than once to talk to one of his many friends, but he had been gone for more than an hour, and the store wasn't more than a mile away.

Shigeru was about to give up on waiting and find something better to do, though he wasn't sure of what that could be, when he saw the rough outline of an umbrella being held up by two people come into his vision. _Two? _Shigeru thought, _Then who's that with him?_ His question was answered soon enough when he heard footsteps and a slow creak as the door opened.

Shigeru's eyes widened as they met those of Satoshi's 'guest.' He backed up slowly, a terrified expression taking over, especially in his eyes, which left Satoshi puzzled as to why he was acting like he was until he saw that Musashi was staring straight at Shigeru unmovingly, the ghosts of her past breaking through as her face turned a pale white. Her eyes immediately moved to Shigeru's stab wound, which he covered with his hand as he noticed her looking at it.

"Shigeru, what's wrong?" Satoshi asked, looking sadly at Shigeru, who simply mouthed something and pointed at the pale redhead, "Musashi?"

"I-I'm sorry… I didn't mean to…" she mumbled, still not moving at all. Shigeru, too, had stopped backing up and was giving the appearance of breathing deeply, though he wasn't alive and therefore couldn't breathe.

"Didn't mean to what?" Satoshi said frantically, trying at the same time to assure the terrified boy on the other side of the room that no harm would befall him and that everything was going to be fine, "What did you _do_, Musashi?"

"I didn't mean to…" she continued mumbling, and Satoshi gave her a stern look that told her to stop avoiding his question, though she didn't seem to notice, "I-I didn't mean… to kill him…"

**Author's notes: I realize how OOC all of characters were in this chapter, and I apologize to everyone who follows the series and hates how I write the characters, especially Musashi and Shigeru, who surprised even me when I re-read the story to edit it. But that was the only way I could get the next chapter to work out, so please forgive me! Can anyone guess what's going to happen next? I have a sequel in the works for this as well, so hopefully I can finish this story and get working on that one as soon as possible. Thank you for reading, and please review, too!**


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